Some lessons from Jesus' Prayer Life

26/08/2018

A man was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up toward heaven, he said: "Lord, take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Church every Sunday for the rest of my life and I’ll give up whiskey."

No sooner had the words left his mouth, than miraculously, a parking place appeared. The man looked up to heaven again and said: "Never mind Lord. I’ve got one."

It’s easy to pray when you’re in desperate need, it’s much harder to make it a daily discipline. I was given the book “The Jesus Habits” as a present some years back and I found the section on Jesus' Prayer Life to be very helpful. 

So this morning, let’s see not only what can we learn from Jesus’ private prayer life, but what we can apply to our own devotions. You should all have a pen and a piece of paper, so write “Prayer Framework” at the top and underline it.

The first thing that struck me when studying Jesus’ prayer life is when He prayed. He disappeared off to pray at different times of the day – sometimes very early in the morning (there's only one specific reference to this!), sometimes in the early afternoon or evening and sometimes all night long. Jesus needed regular time alone to pray. He made it a priority, not out of duty, but out of necessity.

Write down on your sheet the word “TIME:” and then the time of day that you think would be best for you to set aside time to pray (it might be on your commute but don’t close your eyes while driving!).

Secondly, I discovered the various places that Jesus chose to pray. For His private prayers, Jesus normally chose private, secluded places like mountains, lakes, the wilderness. Not always – sometimes his disciples were in the vicinity (that may have been by design, so they could hear his prayers and record them for posterity). There’s no mention of Jesus owning a house, but if He did have one, I’m sure He would have created a private space in it for prayer. When Jesus was teaching on prayer, He denounced those who prayed in public in order to be seen praying, and He encouraged His followers to pray in secret. All of us need to be alone with God at some point during the day – this might take some planning, especially if there are small children in the house, but it can be done if we make it a priority. It’s harder than ever to find seclusion in our noisy world, so you might have to be content with privacy (e.g. the train) rather than solitude. Write down on your sheet the word “PLACE:” and then the place that you think would be best for you to set aside time to pray.

Thirdly, Jesus prayed to the Father and prayer was a natural expression of His relationship with God. He talked to God just like we would talk to our parents. He used the word “Abba” (similar to “Daddy”) to refer to God, which would have been considered irreverent by Jews of His day. Jesus’ use of “Abba” was picked up by Paul, who used it to explain this new way of relating to God. God is not distant and uncaring, He is our loving Heavenly Father, who is as near to us as a loving human Parent. And so we should approach God in this intimate way, when we pray. Write down on your sheet the word “INTIMACY” to remind yourself of the nature of your relationship with God – and possibly to challenge any distorted images that you might have of God (we covered those a couple of weeks ago). Psalm 27:4, in particular, is a picture of intimacy with God:

"One thing I ask from the Lord,this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."

Fourthly, Jesus used praise and thanksgiving in his prayers. In Luke 10, after the 72 returned from their successful ministry trip, it says: "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."

Before feeding the 5,000 and the 4,000, he gave thanks before breaking the bread.

Psalm 100:4 tells us to "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise" – so write that down on your sheet as a reminder that it’s a great way to start a time of prayer – especially if you’re feeling low and don’t feel like it! Praise and thanksgiving lifts our spirits and gets us in the right frame of mind to lead onto to confession, intercession & petition.

Before we move on to number 5, write down the word "CONFESSION:". Jesus didn’t have to, but we do! And then write in brackets (AND FORGIVING OTHERS) which goes hand in hand with Confession, as Matthew 6 reminds us:

"For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Number 5: Jesus prayed for all kinds of people - His disciples, the future church, little children, those who came to Him with needs (in particular the sick). And for me, the most challenging thing is that Jesus prayed for His enemies. We can assume that He practised what He preached and therefore He would have prayed for the Scribes and Pharisees for example. We know He prayed for those who put Him on the cross and He urged us to love our enemies by praying for those who persecute us and ill-treat us, and by blessing those who curse us. We may not call a person who annoys us our “enemy”, especially if they are a brother or sister in Christ, but we probably don’t often make a point of praying for them or forgiving them.

Let’s write on your sheet the word "INTERCESSION:" and some categories of people that you might pray for – family, work colleagues, friends, sick or bereaved, minister and church leaders, persecuted church, ministries that you support, children you sponsor, topical events.

Finally, Jesus prayed for himself and so in our prayers, we should make time to pray for ourselves – it’s not being selfish! As Gethsemane drew near, we get an insight into Jesus’ petitions. He was brutally honest in his prayers – He told God that He didn’t really want to go through with the cross (“Take this cup from me”). He prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. He repeated these prayers. He agonised over what God was calling Him to do.

It’s ok to be honest with God in prayer. There’s really no point in being superficial or trying to skirt around issues, because God knows your heart and your thoughts and your motivations. It’s ok to agonise in prayer, to get emotional, to cry. The Psalms are full of honesty.

But the bottom line for Jesus and the bottom line for us must be “not my will, but yours be done”. In our petitions, we should get everything off our chests and then simply submit to God, trusting Him that His way is always best in the end.

Write down the word "PETITION:" and some broad areas of petition like:

1.    Healing

We all have something we need healing for.

2.    Guidance

Jesus spent a night in prayer before choosing the twelve apostles. It was an important decision, and so it needed much prayer. We should ask ourselves: How much time do we spend in prayer before taking important decisions? We also need guidance for the little things.

3.    Comfort and Strength

From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus attracted criticism, from His family, from the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, from the civil authorities, and even from His disciples. He needed strength to keep going and prayer gave Him this strength.

When John was beheaded, I’m sure Jesus felt under pressure. His response was to take Himself off to a solitary place to pray. There are times when we’re up against it and like Jesus, we need to take ourselves off to pray and to process what’s going on in our lives. As we do this, God will strengthen us and affirm us and encourage us to keep going.

4.    Temptations

Jesus was tempted in the desert but through a combination of prayer and fasting, He was able to resist the temptations of the devil.

We all face temptations every day of the week – they often appear irresistible, but there is hope. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tell us that there is always a God-given “way out” of temptation – a divine escape route. Whether you will choose to take that escape route or not is down to how much spiritual strength you have, and I believe that you can trace this back to your prayer life. Prayer gives us strength to resist and overcome temptation.

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."

5.    Work (inside or outside the home)/Study/Ministry

These are the areas in which we spend most of our time, so there should be lots of things that can be prayed for.

Having done this exercise, you now have a framework for a time of private prayer

• a time (or times) to pray
• a place (or places) to pray
• a reminder of how to approach God (intimacy)
• a way to get started (praise & thanksgiving)
• a reminder about the need for confession and forgiving others
• headings for intercession – add your own specific names
• headings for petition – add your own specific needs

So, let me encourage you to bring it home and use your personalised prayer plan. But before you put it away, write a word at the bottom: ACCOUNTABILITY? One of the shortcomings of Pulpit ministry is a lack of accountability. I'm not going to ring you all up and ask you if you did what I told you to! A small group is much better for this, as long as it is healthy accountability. Unhealthy accountability is imposed and controlling. Healthy accountability, however, is invited and empowering. So think of someone you know who you could help you to develop consistency in your prayer life. Maybe partner-up with mutual accountability, because we all need it!

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of prayer and we confess that we don’t find it easy and we usually don’t make enough time for it. Help us to cultivate our inner life by establishing a daily pattern of devotion to you. Help us to find the right time and the right place. We thank you for the example of Jesus and His prayer life – may He inspire us to seek your face, for wisdom, for guidance, for power, and for strength to persevere. We ask all this in His name. Amen.